5d ago

Fedi platforms designed for mutual aid

Are there any fediverse or self-hostable sort of platforms made for mutual aid? Ideally with some sort of inventory system?

I’m looking to set up a one person super efficient “farm” to be the hub of a mutual aid network (it’s going to take a while to ramp up but I intend to support everyone I can as soon as I can, as long as they are worth supporting.. oooh sorry conservatives 6x prices for you..). I’m looking for a self-host able or fedi platforms, that maybe I can link to nearby mutual aid cells, perhaps. Or get them to join by mouthy-words?

18 comments

Serious question, why do this online? How can you truly know if others need it or are lying? Why not help your neighbors?
- You never know. Neither online or with your neighbors. Building a reputation system online like the fediseer would be possible to see if someone is legit btw.
  
  Yea, I see it as a 2FA authentication in a way.
- I’m moving away from anyone that would be my neighbors now, and while I also plan to support the small local community I end up in, my friends are already a bit scattered around a 4-hour radius from my projected landing spot, and they all have people they love and trust, and I still want to support the dispersed community I care about now, as well as being part of an underground pipeline for people to safer spaces.
  Being online isn’t ideal, but it may prove to be necessary to maintain inventory and needs for such an extended network. Idk shit about logistics.
  I have a few interface points already established who will be delivery/distribution points for wider networks, but if others want to contribute their goods it will get prohibitively difficult for one person to manage

I've looked for something like this and haven't been able to find one.
I've started developing one for my local mutual aid group, but that's still months away from an initial release at the rate I've been able to put time into it.
(Side note if anyone does know of one, I'd love to hear about it)
- You and @haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com would probably be good to chat about that :)
  I don’t know shit about shit. I’d love to pretend I do but I don’t and getting competent people together is probably a win
  
  That's really nice of you to say. You're obviously a good facilitator.
  I'd suggest we use something already there and bolt on the necessary bits since it is already modular. I have mentioned dolibarr. It came to be as erp system with the ability to disable parts and write sour own modules. It of course is Foss and you can reduce it to say inventory, online shop, maybe procurement and finances, done.
  Writing an activity pub module should not be that hard since it uses php and SQL. Full disclosure: I found it hard to make a module on my own but I didn't give it a lot of time next to my work.
  Feel free to contact me by mail, matrix or signal if you're more familiar with that.

As much as I hate to say it.. I use Facebook groups. They're usually really well established and very local.
So maybe look for a fediverse Facebook replacement like frendica?

Sounds like a federated eBay/amazon but where the "price" can be specified as non financial would do the trick.

I think thats a great idea. Haven't heard of any projects like this yet though.
It should not be impossible to set up though. You could use Foss erp software like dolibarr to plan and calculate everything and it has a shop as well.
Feel free to contact me for more info.
- I don’t know how to do anything techy, unfortunately, so I didn’t understand most of what you wrote.. most I know how to do is basic tech support troubleshooting type stuff 😅
  
  No problem. Feel free to DM me and discuss getting this set up. Use a quick search for the following words:
  free and open source
  erp system
  dolibarr
  You can use Wikipedia for all of them too. I can help you on the tech stuff and keep you independent at least of proprietary crap. VERY important btw.
  What I'm thinking is we use a company planning solution to plan a mutual aid campaign. Of course that's overkill but it is modular so we can just run tiny parts of it.

18 comments